Somkid urges focus on ease of doing business to woo foreign investment

By The Nation

 

Somkid (Left) and Uttama

 

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has urged all concerned parties to promote ease of doing business in Thailand in order to attract foreign investment.

 

Speaking at a meeting on Thursday hosted by the Finance Ministry and co-chaired by Finance Minister Uttama Savanayana to discuss the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 Report on Thailand, Somkid said: “For example, we could streamline the process of applying for use of electricity and reduce the waiting time down to one day. Also, we could move power lines underground to improve the efficiency of our power grid.”

 

The deputy PM also suggested that public and private organisations use Big Data to improve online services such as corporate tax refund, online business registration, social security registration and Customs procedures via the national single window.

 

“The government is aiming to shorten the corporate tax refund waiting time to less than 90 days,” he said. “As for social security service, we have already tasked employers to submit employee data electronically to speed up the process and reduce paperwork. Currently 75.77 per cent of insured persons’ data are stored and processed online.”

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30376430

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-09-19

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The first thing to do is get rid of the ridiculous TM30 altogether. I've recently written a friend of mine is a fortune 100 hiring agent, and the extra mountain of <deleted> he needs to go through for the TM30 has him seeking life elsewhere. It's difficult enough hiring in Thailand without this senseless, useless paperwork kerfuffle.

Yes, come and invest in a country where we televise debates that prove we have no real rule of law. 

Edited September 19, 20196 yr by rkidlad

it will take more than that to bring back foreigners..... it took a couple of bad decisions to screw up their credibility,  it will (may) take a life time to build it back

Just got back tonight to BKK.

 

Genuinely and innocently wandered over to the lanes next to air crew etc.

This prompted a troll to emerge from her cave and relatively impolitely send me over to the other channels. A lovely warm welcome to “home’ of 10+ years, as ever...

 

Don’t really understand why they don’t differentiate between tourists and non-immigrant visa holders and provide separate channels.

 

Anyway, I timed it after the 30 minutes wait, 4 minutes 40 seconds to check my documents as a valid Visa/WP holder.

Edited September 19, 20196 yr by realfunster

Amazing. They appear to be absolutely clueless as to why foreign tourists and businessmen are no longer coming here.

 

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Somkid urges focus on ease of doing business to woo foreign investment

An unbelievable amount of wasted wooing, luring and mulling going on at the moment with regard to foreign investment. The Japanese have long woken up to the fact there is not enough killed labour in Thailand and that the EEC is nothing more than a Prayut wet dream. 

While all this going on potential foreign investors are sitting back watching the corrupt circus of the government and their dirty tricks with Honeywell and Kingsgate. 

“For example, we could streamline the process of applying for use of electricity and reduce the waiting time down to one day. Also, we could move power lines underground to improve the efficiency of our power grid.”

 

Forget the process of applying for electricity and moving power lines underground you idiots.

 

Think about the process of setting up companies, foreign visa's and work permits, longer WP's, Thai worker ratios and foreign worker limitations, ease of sending profits outside Thailand, the 49% foreign ownership, 90-day reporting, just to give you a few clues of what to look at.

 

...and then we have to rely on poorly educated and trained staff, poor infrastructure and laws that do nothing to protect us.

 

Thailand is not easy to do business unless perhaps you are a multinational with BOI status, but as for SME or small businesses...Thailand has fallen behind and it can't get up...

 

4 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

... promote ease of doing business in Thailand in order to attract foreign investment

 

But... your bosses, and your colleagues in other departments and ministries have done their darndest to get rid of those pesky foreigners! And they're back-slapping each other for it's finally working it seems. And you want to get them back in? Does the right hand know a left hand exists? And vice versa?

 

Oh, you mean you want the investors' money only, not the investors and the pesky foreigners. I see...

No 100% ownership, no dice. No PR based on investment, forget it. A work permit separate from the stay permit.. oh come on. Just to begin with.

What the Coup did to Thailand and the actions of one man with his mythical 44 powers and his Genrals have done for any sane person makes the rice pledging scheme look like lost change running for a bus. Start the calculator clicking with Kingsgate and keep pressing remembering Toyoto and Prius debacle where Toyota just closed the production down. There are so many businesses and investments left Thailand but hay at least they are getting submarines.... What a crying shame that has happened to Thailand since 2006.

10 hours ago, realfunster said:

Just got back tonight to BKK.

 

Genuinely and innocently wandered over to the lanes next to air crew etc.

This prompted a troll to emerge from her cave and relatively impolitely send me over to the other channels. A lovely warm welcome to “home’ of 10+ years, as ever...

 

Don’t really understand why they don’t differentiate between tourists and non-immigrant visa holders and provide separate channels.

 

Anyway, I timed it after the 30 minutes wait, 4 minutes 40 seconds to check my documents as a valid Visa/WP holder.

I've been to Swampy a few times this week and the amount of police and immigration police lurking about was bizarre! 

1 hour ago, Sticky Wicket said:

I've been to Swampy a few times this week and the amount of police and immigration police lurking about was bizarre! 

Waiting for one biometrics bust plenty of selfies to be had?

Powerlines underground In order to bring foreigner investors confidence back ? Yeah Seems they finally found the cause of the problem because foreigner investors will base their decision to invest on the location of the power lines.

Edited September 20, 20196 yr by Destiny1990

10 hours ago, DLock said:

Thai worker ratios and foreign worker limitations, ease of sending profits outside Thailand, the 49% foreign ownership

Why would a foreign business man want to set up his 'own' company when it will always be 51% Thai.  Why would he have to hire lazy, unskilled Thai workers to fill up the mandatory labour quotas?

Bury the power lines along with the unpalatable truth.

Foreign investors have been totally scared off - Amazon is not coming here and its miles to difficult to setup shop. Look how hard it is to setup a company and get it operating and how much capital you need, totally pointless and just means they do not understand taxation

Any developed country opens the doors to business people as they pay tax. It's as simple as that.

The reason the SET is so low and their currency so inflated is they do not have a basic grasp of economics and do not understand how to do it. All of the people in charge should be forced to visit the states and take a notebook and start making some notes because they are really out of touch with reality

The entire system is backwards and just full of paper pushers they waste the tax money and do not know how to generate anything so we dont have any centers of affluence just a few areas of extortionately priced housing and 200% taxed cars which they think means they are rich. But you dont even have a real university buddy. You dont even have a stock worth more than $100!! HILARIOUS

They are so clueless when it comes to business... the economy is very inefficient just because it was designed by someone who doesnt get it and cannot get it because they dont follow the basic principles nor do they follow the great plan for a sustainable economics they just do their own thing and hope it works. It's a total mess.

Property tax - doesnt exist
Planning permission - doesnt exist
Foreign Investor Visa - doesnt exist
Corporate tax incentives - doesnt exist
Technical Colleges - doesnt exist

I can go on and on

All they do is train hotel staff and hope that tourists come it's crazy that's why the biggest stocks are cement! Because they hope they can just keep building these crappy towers that fall down after the rebar rusts out in 30 years 

Whilst bangkok is sinking into the sea and the floods are coming but meh what do I know im a stupid farang

Edited September 20, 20196 yr by MartiniMan

14 hours ago, quandow said:

The first thing to do is get rid of the ridiculous TM30 altogether. I've recently written a friend of mine is a fortune 100 hiring agent, and the extra mountain of <deleted> he needs to go through for the TM30 has him seeking life elsewhere. It's difficult enough hiring in Thailand without this senseless, useless paperwork kerfuffle.

Indeed! - business people generally travel to conduct business.  The TM30 is a massive deterrent and an inconvenience to already busy people trying to do a productive and honest job.  The TM30, as far as Im aware, is a process that seems to not exist anywhere else except perhaps in North Korea (I dont know).  Would this have anything to do with the likelihood that its completely ineffective and simply deters foreigners visiting, residing or conducting business in country.

VERRY DIFFICULT WITH THE CURRENT UNSTABLE POLITICAL SITUATION !!!!!

You'd get more sense if you stuck a bunch of 5 year old's in a room.

21 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Somkid urges focus on ease of doing business to woo foreign investment

Isn't Thailand already getting investments from the Chinese?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woo